Oliver Duggan

Oliver Duggan has a BA in Politics and Parliamentary Studies from the University of Leeds and an MA in Newspaper Journalism from City University London. He works as a freelance reporter and editorial assistant for The Independent and i with a focus on Home Affairs and politics.

The house billed as the most expensive council home in Britain has been sold for £2.96m in an “extremely competitive” auction that lasted only minutes. The 200-year-old Grade II-listed property, close to Borough Market in South London, was auctioned by Savills to raise money for social housing in the area.

Australia’s Health Minister has accused the UK Government of dropping plans to introduce blank cigarette packaging due to pressure from tobacco companies and one of their former lobbyists now working for the Conservatives.

Chancellor George Osborne will be forced to abandon the Government ring fence-around the NHS and pension budgets and further cut public spending if he is to keep pledge not to raise taxes after the 2015 election, a leading think tank has said.

Business Secretary Vince Cable has said the Coalition will “toughen up” on private contracts after the Government disclosed two major firms had charged the taxpayer to monitor non-existent electronic tags.